It is known in the art valve art to provide remote operators for air valves to control the operation of an air valve, such as a pilot air valve, or other type valves, which in turn control directional flow control valves, or the like. Various remote air and manual operators have been provided, but such operators incorporate expensive and inefficient operating structure. The prior art remote air operators are disadvantageous in that they employ direct air operated pistons and other structure which directly contact the poppet valve spool in a valve being operated, and such direct contact with the valve spool has been found to injure the poppet valve spool because of the direct force at high pressures that are applied to the poppet valve spool.